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trimming rules

updated fri 21 feb 03

 

Vince Pitelka on sun 16 feb 03


> ANY part of the pot can be trimmed after throwing. If you don't like the
> interior curve of your bowl, trim it out and round it more if you like.
> Who's to stop you? Don't like the shape of the neck on that vase? Is it
> thick? Trim it to please yourself.

Of course there are no rules, but this is not good advice. The ONLY part of
the pot where it is really practical to trim is the bottom of the pot and
the lower walls, and as much as possible, you really SHOULD try to throw the
pot to minimize trimming of the lower walls. It only makes good sense. In
most circumstances, the ideal objective during throwing is to achieve the
shape you want, inside and out, with a wall thickness as uniform as you can
get it throughout (except for extra thickness for a rim, a trimmed foot,
etc.).

There is no rule that says you cannot trim other parts of the pot, but it is
damn awkward to trim other parts of the pot. The upper walls or shoulder or
rim often are not true enough to submit to trimming, and there is no reason
that they SHOULD be that true. And if you do try to trim them, you are left
with that distinctly "trimmed" surface, and by trimming the surface at all,
or by using a sponge or chamois to remove the trimming marks, you pretty
much kill the spontaneity of the surface. People in ceramics are entirely
too hung up on trying to achieve absolute symmetry. The potter's wheel is
not a machinist's lathe. There is nothing wrong with machine symmetry as a
choice, but don't assume it is the logical ideal.

That said, if you throw a pot and then you decide the only way you can save
it is to trim the shoulder or the rim or whatever, by all means go ahead.
But strive towards throwing shapes that need little or no trimming.
Best wishes -
- Vince

Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
Home - vpitelka@dtccom.net
615/597-5376
Office - wpitelka@tntech.edu
615/597-6801 x111, FAX 615/597-6803
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/

David Hendley on mon 17 feb 03


Of course there is only one universal rule, for all ceramic endeavors:
If it works, it's good, if it doesn't work, it's bad.

There are, however, plenty of "poor practices".
I know there are porcelain production centers where it is standard procedure
to heavily trim the entire outside surface of vase forms.
But if you are working with reasonably plastic clay and you still need to
trim the entire form to get what you want, that is a poor practice.
It makes more sense to learn the skill to throw the shape you want without
trimming than to make extensive trimming part of your routine.

A truly skilled and experienced thrower knows exactly what parts of a form
will be trimmed while he is throwing the piece. A less-than- masterful
thrower has to evaluate each piece when leather hard, and then decide what
needs to be trimmed away.
Just last week, when I was demonstrating for the school kids, I threw some
bottle forms. I noticed the next day that some of them had a poor transition
from the shoulder to the neck. I slapped them back on the wheel and trimmed
away a bit of clay to clean up the line.
Fine, nothing illegal there, but I am certainly not proud of this, it is not
a good thing, and I hope to become more skillful so it doesn't happen again.
Poor practice.

David Hendley
Maydelle, Texas
david@farmpots.com
http://www.farmpots.com





----- Original Message -----
From: "william schran"
To:
Sent: Monday, February 17, 2003 9:01 AM
Subject: Re: WAS Giffen grip now: trimming rules


> Sam wrote: <> ANY part of the pot can be trimmed after throwing. If you don't like the
> interior curve of your bowl, trim it out and round it more if you like.
> Who's to stop you?>>
>
> Sam - You are absolutely correct. ANY part of the pot CAN be trimmed
> - and cut and altered.
> I teach my beginning students to complete as much of the form as they
> can while the pot is still on the wheel such that only the bottom
> needs completion. I also tell them that the inside of the form
> determines the shape of the outside. After they are proficient enough
> to "adhere" to these "rules", I encourage exploration and breaking
> the "rules".
> Please - I don't want to be deputized and put on the Pottery Police
> Patrol! I promise to break the rules.
> Bill
>
>
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clennell on wed 19 feb 03


Dawg wrote.


> Of course there is only one universal rule, for all ceramic endeavors:
> If it works, it's good, if it doesn't work, it's bad.


David for god sakes don't come up with rules for trimming pots. RR has taken
the side of Big Blue and rules out the Russian chess genius. Intuition is a
form of wisdom. You saw that your pot needed a little trim on the shoulder
and so you attended to it. that comes from seeing a lot of shoulders.
I have a lovely little vase in my collection by Harlan House that is trimmed
on the inside. He was wedging in feldspar chunks in the porcelain and then
swelling out the belly. If you trimmed the outside it would ruin the
stretched effect, so he trimmed the inside. Who'd a thunk it!
Cheers,
tony
P.S Stay away from Waco there is steep competition from a potter doing
Floating Blue.

Ron Roy on thu 20 feb 03


Dear David,

What a sensible approach.

I wonder how many heavy, unbalanced pots with poor form have been let loose
in the word because the potter was told they should only trim the bottoms.

If I were still teaching I would insist the extra clay be trimmed off -
with the simple encouragement to throw it properly next time - so you won't
have to do all that trimming.

RR


>There are, however, plenty of "poor practices".
>I know there are porcelain production centers where it is standard procedure
>to heavily trim the entire outside surface of vase forms.
>But if you are working with reasonably plastic clay and you still need to
>trim the entire form to get what you want, that is a poor practice.
>It makes more sense to learn the skill to throw the shape you want without
>trimming than to make extensive trimming part of your routine.
>
>A truly skilled and experienced thrower knows exactly what parts of a form
>will be trimmed while he is throwing the piece. A less-than- masterful
>thrower has to evaluate each piece when leather hard, and then decide what
>needs to be trimmed away.
>Just last week, when I was demonstrating for the school kids, I threw some
>bottle forms. I noticed the next day that some of them had a poor transition
>from the shoulder to the neck. I slapped them back on the wheel and trimmed
>away a bit of clay to clean up the line.
>Fine, nothing illegal there, but I am certainly not proud of this, it is not
>a good thing, and I hope to become more skillful so it doesn't happen again.
>Poor practice.

Ron Roy
RR#4
15084 Little Lake Road
Brighton, Ontario
Canada
K0K 1H0
Phone: 613-475-9544
Fax: 613-475-3513